YARMOUTH—Forty-eight hours before finally earning a chance at revenge almost a year in the making, Yarmouth’s girls’ lacrosse team made sure it took care of business when it hosted crosstown rival North Yarmouth Tuesday afternoon.

The Clippers had no trouble focusing on the task at hand, as they always get up for the Panthers and they were coming off a rare setback four days prior.

Yarmouth quickly put its loss to Massabesic in the rearview mirror, thanks to a dominant first half that quickly put an end to the competitive phase of the contest.

Just 42 seconds in, senior Eva Then scored to put the Clippers on top and 17 seconds later, classmate Greta Elder added another.

Yarmouth’s onslaught wouldn’t stop, as it scored 10 times in the game’s first 11 minutes, with Elder and Then tickling the twine three times apiece and juniors Ashley Arruda and Hannah Grant, sophomore Ehryn Groothoff and freshman Annie Lowenstein also finding the net.

NYA got on the board late in the half, when junior Maggie Larson scored, but Elder and senior Meredith Lane answered to make the score 12-1 at halftime.

The Clippers were content to milk the running clock in the second half before junior Kyaira Grondin scored one final goal, bringing the curtain down on a 13-1 victory.

Elder led all scorers with four goals, Then added three and Yarmouth improved to 3-1 on the season, dropping the Panthers to 1-3 in the process.

“We tend sometimes to start off slow and today we wanted to start off strong,” said Clippers coach Dorothy Holt. “I’m proud of (the girls). They kept their composure and played great lacrosse.”

Dominant again

Yarmouth has won five straight regional titles and a year ago was unbeatable for 15 games before dropping an agonizing 5-4 decision to Kennebunk in the Class B state final.

While graduation forced the Clippers to say goodbye to many standouts, including four-year goalie MaryKate Gunville, Yarmouth remains the team to beat in Class B this spring.

After opening with a 15-12 home win over Lake Region and a 22-7 triumph at Freeport, the Clippers dropped a regular season game for the first time in two years, when they fell at defending Class A champion Massabesic Friday, 11-7.

“The loss really motivated us,” said Elder. “It was a big attitude change for us. Massabesic came into it like it was a state game. We hadn’t faced that kind of pressure and intensity. We’ve changed our attitude so every game is treated with intensity.”

“That was great for us,” said Holt. “(Massabesic’s) a great team, but I think we can play with them.”

NYA, which is in the newly formed Class C this season, opened by losing at home to Greely (16-4) and at Lake Region (17-5) before winning at Mt. Ararat Saturday, 11-9.

“That win was nice,” said Panthers coach Molly Climo. “We were short-handed for the second part of the second half, but it showed the girls have heart.”

Last year, Yarmouth won, 17-4, at NYA, to make it 11 straight victories in the series and 12 in a row in the regular season (see sidebar, below).

Tuesday, on a pleasant 56-degree, windy afternoon, the Clippers were in control from the start.

Senior Meredith Lane won the opening draw and the ball soon came to Then, who raced in and beat Panthers sophomore goalie Maya Davis for a 1-0 lead just 42 seconds in.

Lane won another faceoff and that set the stage for Elder to score her first goal for a two-goal advantage with the game just 59 seconds old.

Yarmouth was far from finished and with 21:47 to play in the first half, Elder set up Then for a goal and a 3-o lead which forced Climo to call timeout.

It didn’t help, as 20 seconds later, Grant scored unassisted.

With 19:21 on the clock, after a turnover, Then fed Elder to make it 5-0.

Then left the defense in her wake before finishing unassisted with 17:40 left.

Elder scored unassisted 46 seconds later and 33 seconds after that, the promising Lowenstein got on the board unassisted for an 8-0 advantage.

With 14:45 to play in the half, Lowenstein fed Arruda for a goal and 44 seconds later, Groothoff scored unassisted for a 10-0 goal lead.

The Panthers momentarily stemmed the tide with 2:51 on the clock, when Larson beat junior Izzy Serrano for an unassisted goal, but 36 seconds later, Elder scored for the final time and with 25 seconds left, Lane, from junior Abi Thornton, tickled the twine to make it 12-1 Yarmouth at the half.

In the first 25 minutes, the Clippers won 13 of 14 draws and enjoyed a 15-4 shots advantage (14-2 on cage).

Instead of pouring it on in the second half, Yarmouth took the sportsmanlike approach and passed the ball around, faking shots when it got close to the goal.

With 16:06 left, Grondin finished unassisted, but that was it for offense and the Clippers went on to a 13-1 triumph.

“We know we have a lot of skill as a team,” Elder said. “It was nice to get so many girls on the field. We had diversity in our goal scorers. We had a long stall where everyone was involved. One of the things we put an emphasis on was generating offense, which we didn’t do last time. We capitalized on our fast break when we had it. We tried to generate movement with passes on attack. We’re meshing, getting used to playing with each other. We have great coaches. We’re starting to jell as a team.”

“This is a nice way to bounce back,” Holt said. “It takes a whole team. In games like this when everyone works hard, they deserve the time. We can count on all the girls.”

Elder led all scorers with four goals. Then added three and Arruda, Grant, Grondin, Groothoff, Lane and Lowenstein had one apiece.

Elder, Lowenstein, Then and Thornton each had one assist.

Serrano made three saves.

The Clippers won 15 of 16 draws, had a 31-16 advantage in ground balls (Lane had a game-high seven), finished with a 17-6 edge in shots (16-4 on frame) and overcame 15 turnovers.

NYA got a goal from Larson and three saves from Davis and turned the ball over 16 times.

“Yarmouth’s always tough and we’re in a little bit of a pickle with numbers,” Climo said. “We’re short-handed. We’re trying to build. Today just got away from us. They’re so talented. We wanted to implement things we practiced in the game, but we didn’t do a good job of that today.”

Payback time?

NYA looks to bounce back when it hosts Camden Hills Saturday. Freeport pays a visit Tuesday.

“We’ll learn from this and figure out more things to work on in practice,” Climo said. “We’ll get there eventually. Now we’re in Class C and our schedule is a little different, but we still have tough competition. We’re learning together. We want to make the playoffs.”

Yarmouth will have no trouble getting up for its next contest, as Kennebunk pays a visit Thursday at 4 p.m. (see theforecaster.net for game story).

“We’ve looked forward to it for a year,” said Elder. “(Last year) still stings a lot, but we know our skill. We hope to put it away and win it this time.”

“For us, it’s a big game,” Holt said. “We all feel it. (Kennebunk has) become a huge rival. When we see them wear their ‘Back-to-Back’ T-shirts, it brings back memories. We’ll be ready.”